When HSBC acquired
Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) in 2000, CCF was operating with 650
branches and
assets of €69 billion. In April 2000,
HSBC announced its intention to acquire the bank and completed the deal in July. That month, HSBC Holdings listed on the
Paris Stock Exchange for the first time. The acquisition enabled HSBC to establish itself in one of the main European markets and to build a strong platform in the
euro zone. CCF continued to expand with the purchase of
Banque Pelletier (2000) and
Banque Hervet (2001). CCF won a bidding-war for Banque Hervet, which the French government was re-privatizing, when its bid of $480 million beat out bids from
Paribas,
Credit du Nord -
Dexia, and insurer Groupama. With the acquisition of CCF, HSBC acquired CCF's stake in
Lombard Bank in
Malta. At the time, HSBC already owned the largest bank in Malta. In 2002, HSBC sold its shares in Lombard Bank Malta to Swiss-based
Banca Unione di Credito. CCF also sold its 93.3 per cent stake in
Crédit International d’Egypte (CIE), an Egyptian commercial bank listed on the Cairo Stock Exchange, to
Crédit Agricole Indosuez (75%) and the El Mansour and El Maghraby groups (25%). HSBC was already operating in Egypt through
HSBC Bank Egypt. In 2002, CCF acquired 11 branches outside
Paris from
Banque Worms/
Deutsche Bank. HSBC S.A. was formed on 1 November 2005 when
HSBC rebranded CCF, together with its subsidiaries UBP, Banque de Picardie and Banque Hervet. The bank later changed its name to HSBC France. About half of the former networks of
CCF - , ,
Banque de Picardie and
Banque de Baecque Beau - traded as HSBC as a result. This represented a 380 strong network of branches in France with a very strong presence in the
Paris region. Other group operations in France include a significant
HSBC Private Bank presence, along with a major Corporate Institutional Banking and Markets operation. The Paris
trading floor is the Group's second-largest trading floor in
Europe. Specific areas of particular expertise and responsibility are the trading of
government bonds and
euro interest rate derivatives, arranging of corporate cash calls,
disintermediated and structured finance and
project finance. HSBC France had seven regional subsidiaries with 420 branches, but sold them to
Banque Populaire in 2008. These regional subsidiaries were
Société Marseillaise de Crédit, , , , , and . On , HSBC France rebranded to "HSBC Continental Europe" along with all HSBC European branches (Belgium, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Czechia and Sweden) with the exception of
HSBC Malta. The move was expected to create "a modernized universal banking model" and provide "a new momentum to its European operations". On the same day, HSBC relocated its Paris headquarters to 38, avenue Kléber. In March 2021 it was reported that HSBC was in talks to sell its French retail division to
Cerberus Capital Management. This sale was concluded in January 2024. ==Controversy==